Maggie Joel

Maggie is a British-born writer who has had four novels published, the first, The Past and Other Lies, was published to critical acclaim in Australia in 2009 and in the US by Felony & Mayhem Press in 2013 and was chosen as the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Pick of the Week’. Her second novel, The Second-Last Woman in England, was published in Australia in 2010, in the US in 2011 and in the UK by Constable & Robinson in 2013. This book was also selected as the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Pick of the Week’ and was awarded the 2011 Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Christina Stead Award for Fiction. Maggie’s third novel, Half the World in Winter, was published by Allen & Unwin in Australia in 2014 and in the UK in November 2015. Her fourth novel, The Safest Place in London, has just been published by Allen & Unwin in 2016. Maggie lives in Sydney and works as the operations manager at a federal government agency.

In 1881 in London, everything changes for the wealthy Jarmyn family. The misfortunes on the railway the family had built echoes the shocking death of nine-year-old Sofia Jarmyn. And at the heart of this family, a terrible secret is tearing their lives apart.